Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: The former waitress now the youngest woman elected to US Congress

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not sure what to do with Oliver Grady III. She has agreed to hold the 13-year-old Boston terrier so his owner can vote, but 10 minutes have passed and there is no sign of her return.

"She said he was not friendly," Ms Ocasio-Cortez warns the crowd gathering around her outside the Bronx Little School in New York. The dog, barely a foot tall and wearing a purple spandex vest, looks nonplussed.

But it is the 28-year-old politician, and not her temporary pet, drawing attention. Teachers double take when they see her – one of them asks for a selfie. Children stare as they pass with lunch trays, probably recognising her from TV.